Thin dog with no appetite

[Carmichaelangelo]

We have a four year old Pyrenean mountain dog. Had him since a puppy and he has always been very fit and healthy. However, since he was a puppy he has never been interested in food and is very thin. He is checked regularly by the vet and in good health. It's simply a case of not being able to get enough food into him. We are home al day with him, so he has the opportunity to have several meals a day. We have tried all kinds of canned dog food, dried biscuits, etc, but he's just not that interested - manages two small cans a day at best. We have just started giving him three eggs (in an omelette) each lunchtime, but struggle to find anything else he will eat. Any suggestions please?

[SPARKLYSTARSHINESBRIGHT]

I had this problem with my now 18 month old poodle cross who was quite timid. I put the food down and she would walk round the bowl as if it was going to bite her. After trying different brands, wet/dry etc I just leave dry food out 24/7 and sprinkle bran flakes or crumbled rich Tea biscuits on the food. She's fine with it now and doesn't look like a neglected rescue case. I figured a lot of the nations dog are fat by titbits, she now looks a healthy weight and has more energy, I won't let her get overweight thou, if that was ever possible with her. Good luck.

[nellieellie]

My dog, also a mountain dog, was never interested in food and would leave it for days at a time. At 5 mths we changed him to raw food. It was like a light switch going on. He hoovers it up in about 10 seconds flat, loves it. I would say though, are you sure he's underweight? Most dogs these days are too fat, and Pyreneans although big dogs get their apparent bulk from their lovely thick coats. My dog is now about 17 mths, and a good deal lighter than most Labradors!

[Carmichaelangelo]

Thank you both. You can easily feel his spine and ribs. He weighs 42kilos, exactly the same as he did last year. Vet says he is underweight and should aim for 50. May I ask what raw food you have your Pyrenean on please?

[StarsInTheNightSky]

I second the recommendation for raw food, I have three dogs, two Caucasian Ovcharkas and a Fila Brasiliero and all are fed on raw. All were rescue dogs and within a week of feeding raw their coats were gleaming. They are all now, thankfully, the picture of health.

[DragonsCanHop]

When we rescued our girl the first thing I did was put her on a raw food diet.

you can buy frozen raw from pets at home or online. It is a diet that is controlled by weight and you need a percentage of offal plus raw food, some feed veg, eggs, fish etc as well.

Do you have Facebook? There are lots of sites that help new starter raw feeding uk being one of them.

I did raw from the butcher and online plus a few trays for lazy days. I loved making her home made treats

It's time consuming until you get the hang of it but so very worth it and it turned my girl around (not mentioning I was shovelling up her shit with a shovel when we took her in and then picking dainty poos up once on raw) and no more smelly farts and hair loss

[BoutrosBoutros]

Fussy eater here. The vet was useless, agreed he was a bit underweight and suggested feeding more!?!?!? Switched to raw at about 6 months and haven't looked back (he's 3 now). It's much less complicated than it looks and you can buy 'complete' foods from people like nutriment which helps. Although ours is still fussy with some complete foods so we stick to chicken wings, ribs and offal for the most part. Good luck!!

[Bubble2bubble]

I have super skinny retriever cross. He's also very fit,runs miles every day and vets always say he is healthy, but I thought he was really bordering on too thin ( ribs just a bit too obvious ) I started giving him a tin of sardines in oil every other day and within a couple of weeks his ribs were definitely more covered. I haven't weighed him yet but am happy that he doesn't look starved anymore.